Pune: Over 200 passengers faced significant inconvenience after two separate Air India Express flights, IX-2913 and IX-1098, were delayed by over seven hours during the night of Saturday and Sunday.
The Bengaluru-Pune flight, IX-2913, was delayed by more than eight hours. Scheduled to depart from Bengaluru at 5:35 pm on Saturday, it eventually took off at 2:15 am on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Pune to Bhubaneswar flight, IX-1098, experienced a delay of over seven hours. It was scheduled to leave at 9:10 pm on Saturday but departed at 4:45 am on Sunday, a delay of seven hours and 35 minutes.
When queried, the airline did not confirm whether the same aircraft was used for both flights. A passenger on the Bengaluru-Pune flight reported that the airline cited bad weather as the reason for the delay. However, the passenger noted that flights from other airlines were operating normally. There were also issues with seat allocations, with multiple passengers assigned the same seats. The passenger, who requested anonymity, described the experience as a nightmare, having arrived at the Bengaluru airport at 3 pm. He added that many flyers could not return home due to the airport's distance from the city.
Another passenger, Nilay, expressed frustration on social media, writing: "Absolute chaos in Bangalore. The Air India Express flight to Pune, scheduled for 5.35pm, is now showing 12.55am. No assurance that the flight will take off. Will you please intervene and do your duty towards passengers?" He tagged the civil aviation minister in his post on X.
Similar dissatisfaction was evident among passengers of the Pune to Bhubaneswar flight. One flyer stated, "Passengers have a level of patience which airlines don't bother about. They said the weather was the problem, but no proper timeline was provided for this delay. At least the airline should compensate the flyers with half the fares. Why don't the officials intervene in these situations?"
Times of India sent a detailed query to the Air India Express spokesperson via WhatsApp, asking in which city or cities the inclement weather occurred and the reason for the delay. No official statement from the airline was received by the time of publication.
